


Rise

by ArchangelUnmei



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/F, F/M, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Immortality, Loss, M/M, More to add as they come, Multi, Ok not quite AU but like sequel to canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-25 22:18:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18583708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArchangelUnmei/pseuds/ArchangelUnmei
Summary: "Bahamut has conceded that he may have been somewhat... unfair in the treatment of the mortals charged with fulfilling his Prophesy.""Somewhat?""It has been decided that they will be given a second chance to live in peace and happiness. Andyou... are being given a choice."The Starscourge falls, the sun rises, and Cor Leonis... lives.He lost his friends and family once before. This time he'll do whatever it takes to make sure they get the happy ending they deserve.





	Rise

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to the wonderful MeinNameIstJette, who has jumped off the deep end of the Cor/Drautos ship with me.
> 
> I'm a very slow writer atm, but I'm excited for this fic, so I wanted to get the first bit up. Will be Cor-centric, with a big focus on his relationships to Titus, Regis and Clarus, but pretty much everyone will show up eventually and there are several plot branches I'm hoping to intertwine and prune into something useful. More pairings and characters will be added as the fic progresses.

The sun rises, throwing bright beams of light across all of Lucis. Long shadows fall across the streets of Insomnia, the quietest now that they'll be all day. There are a few out and about, of course; Insomnia is and always will be the _Sleepless City_ , the City Reborn From Night.

And through these streets, Cor Leonis runs. 

The longest shadows lead back to the center, the heart, the spires of the Citadel that still rise, though they're twisted and shattered. The shadows show him the way and he follows them, his feet pounding along the cracked sidewalks to the rhythm of his heartbeat. Umbra runs beside him, tongue lolling and the tags on his harness jingling, keeping pace with Cor. They've followed this path before, countless times, and they will countless times again, relishing the burn of the crisp morning air in his lungs. 

He rounds the last corner, taking a deeper breath as he plunges into the last stretch, up the long marble staircase to the entrance of the Citadel itself. The doors are closed and locked this early in the morning, but as usual Cor pauses to take a short breather at the top of the stairs, under the sign that says _'Longest Night Memorial Musuem'_. Umbra flops down onto the cool stone, panting happily, and Cor puts his hands on his hips, regulating his breathing as he looks out across the courtyard. 

In a few hours this space will be crowded with school groups on field trips, tourists on vacation and families seeking a relaxing day out in the formerly private gardens, which have been opened up into a park under the museum's care. But for now, with the sun still barely peeking between the buildings, all is quiet save Cor's footsteps and the music coming through his earbuds. 

Some mornings, if he wants a longer run, he'll circle the Citadel and take a route through the memorial gardens, where the King of Light and his closest guardians are buried - at least according to tradition. The grounds around the Citadel have been opened up to the public, but they're protected, historical grounds, and have been preserved but never fully excavated. 

Today, though, Cor has a busy day ahead of him. He never forgoes his morning run unless he's physically unable, but days like today he reluctantly cuts it short. 

So once he's caught his breath, he clicks his tongue to Umbra and heads back down the steps, following the familiar path home. His house isn't far, just enough that the business district gives way to residentials, and the route to the Citadel and back makes a good morning run. During marathon season, when Cor's in hardcore training mode, the routes he takes are much longer. 

Umbra speeds ahead as they get closer to home, tail wagging as he answers Pryna's barked greeting with his own. They nose each other through the chain link fence until Cor catches up and unlatches the gate to let Umbra and himself in. 

"You know, you could come with us you lazy lump," he tells Pryna affectionately, leaning down to scratch her behind the ears before heading across the small yard. 

He can't help the soft smile that settles across his features, drinking in the sight of his boyfriend sitting on the front porch. Cor had never thought of himself as someone who'd be happy settling down. It was never part of his plan. His life has always revolved around his work, his hobbies, he's had friends and even occasionally lovers, but never a _partner_ before. 

Not until Titus Drautos. 

"Who're you calling a lazy lump?" Titus arches an eyebrow as Cor lowers himself to sit on the steps beside him, and offers Cor the second cup of coffee he's holding. 

"You," Cor rolls his eyes to accentuate the sarcasm, though there's a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Breakfast?" 

"No," Titus matches sarcasm for sarcasm, frowning hard enough that Cor knows he's faking. "Not for you. All the bacon is for Umbra and Pryna." 

"Pity," Cor muses, taking a long sip of his coffee. Titus snorts, nudging against his shoulder. 

For a few minutes they sit in silence, watching the dogs chase each other around the yard as the sky grows lighter overhead. There's a few clouds, but they're small, whispy things, and it's shaping up to be a clear spring morning. A squirrel comes down one of the trees just far enough to attract Pryna's attention, and she bolts over to lunge as far as she can up the trunk, barking enthusiastically as Umbra runs back and forth behind her. The squirrel chitters angrily, apparently well aware it's safe and out of reach. 

"What's your day look like?" Cor finally asks, when his coffee mug is almost empty and he can feel the sweat from his run dry and tacky across his shoulders. Titus isn't dressed for work yet, but his hair is damp and Cor can faintly smell his familiar aftershave, so he must have followed their customary routine and showered as soon as he got up so the bathroom would be free for Cor when he returned. "Classes start today, so I might be late tonight." 

"That's fine," Titus shrugs his broad shoulders and stands, offering Cor a hand so they can go inside and actually eat the breakfast still warming on the stove. "I should be off at the usual time, barring emergencies. I'll bring home take out and if you're late I'll put it in the fridge." 

"Perfect." 

Breakfast is quick and efficient, neither of them seeing a need to linger when they both have to get a move on their day. It's a difference from just a few minutes earlier, lingering quiet and peaceful on the porch. Like a coin flipped over, Cor muses as he climbs into the shower, knowing Titus will already be gone by the time he gets out so he can make it down to the precinct station before morning briefing. Two different facets to the relationship, distinct but equally valid. 

Getting out of the shower, Cor pauses to wipe the condensation away from the mirror, peering solemnly at his own reflection. The same face stares back at him that always has, and for the space of a dozen heartbeats he stands there, just breathing, his own quiet morning ritual that he's practiced since long before he met Titus. It's taken on new meaning since he met Titus, true, but Titus will never change the most fundamental part of Cor. 

"I'm Cor Leonis," he tells his reflection, just in case he ever forgets. Then he lets out a long breath and picks up his razor to trim down his goatee. Classes start this morning, after all, and he always tries to present a clean, authoritative face to his students. 

He arrives with plenty of time to spare at Lucis Caelum University - named for the ancient line of Kings, the line that sacrificed their throne to bring about the Dawn and put an end to the Longest Night. They had ruled Insomnia for a thousand years, one hundred and fourteen monarchs in a line unbroken until the last of them died without heir. From the ashes Insomnia had risen and reformed itself a republic, and the university had been founded only a handful of years after and named in honor of the family that had given so much for all of Eos. 

Cor has taught pre-Dawn history at LCU for a number of years now, and can walk the campus deadass asleep. He keeps his office year round, slowly filling it with a rotation of books that overflow from the ones he and Titus keep at home and an eclectic collection of trinkets. Some of them are sentimental, some of them he keeps specifically to baffle the students who come in for his office hours and don't know him very well. There's a battered and well-loved couch shoved into a corner under the window, sometimes for him to sleep on if he's working very late but more usually for Umbra and Pryna when he sneaks one of them into his office for the afternoon. It's technically against the rules, but he has tenure now and anyone who might have called him on it loves his dogs as much as he does, so that's a bonus. 

He drops off his jacket and organizes what he'll need for his first class, then has just enough time to pick up a coffee from the on-campus coffee shop. The barista looks familiar and he frowns, trying to place her, but she's young and blond and he meets so many new students so often that after a moment he reluctantly pushes the odd feeling aside. He doesn't like ignoring when his gut tells him that something is weird, but to be honest he gets deja vu all the time and if he stopped to investigate every mildly familiar face he'd end up with profiles of everyone in Insomnia. 

He has no intention of having to explain to Titus why he's suddenly acting like a serial killer, thank you. 

He arrives at the lecture hall about ten minutes before he expects students to start showing up. It's the first class of the day, so he doesn't have to wait for a previous professor to clear out, he just unlocks the door and steps in. He wanders over to sit behind the desk at the front of the room, finally bothering to break the seal on the class list the registrar had handed him a week ago and he hadn't looked at yet. 

He sips his coffee as he runs a finger down the list of names, pleased to note several students he's taught in the past. This class in particular he's been looking forward to, it's an introductory course meant to paint the broad strokes of the Great Niffle-Lucian War and how that factored into the circumstances leading up to the Longest Night and the eventual Dawn. Cor teaches it most years, and it can be hit or miss since it's also fairly popular for non-history majors just looking to fill out a general credit. But for history majors, it's a necessary piece if they want to dive deeper into minutia of pre-Dawn history. 

He pauses at one name in particular, slowly setting down his coffee as he lets his finger trace 'Regis'. Regis Adhar, apparently. An old name, one that had been common in the generations just after the Dawn, but had fallen out of fashion since. 

He's about to pick up his coffee again and continue perusing the list of names, but the door to the lecture hall swings open at just that moment. Cor looks up, ready with a greeting, but it gets lodged behind the sudden lump in his throat. 

The man standing there is _young_ , no more than twenty, slim and straight with thick dark hair, curly and a little wild, bright eyes and a brighter smile. It squeezes Cor's heart like a vice to see him; a mirage from long ago, a tiny shard of Cor's precious, hoarded memories blown big. 

But he's not faded and colorless like the photographs in the museum, the ones Cor had given up and donated when he conceded he could no longer preserve them himself, no matter how much he wanted to keep this version of his friends all for himself. This Regis is _real_ , more real than Cor remembers him, with a gap between his front teeth and hands clenched just a little too tight around the strap of his shoulder bag, the toe of one shiny shoe nudging at the floor in something like shyness. He's different, but Cor would never fail to recognize those eyes, nor the voice that pipes up with a shy "Good morning, professor," in response to Cor's automated nod. 

Regis. Not just _a_ Regis but _his Regis_ , the one he's always been looking for. 

And how strange, too. Cor has imagined this moment a thousand different ways, ever since the promise was made that he'd find Regis again. Somehow he'd never imagined it would be the opposite of their first meeting; not Regis the young but poised Prince and Cor the awkward younger child soldier tasked with protecting him. 

Coin flip again, Cor muses, trying to swallow a sudden burst of emotion he isn't prepared for on a Monday morning in April. This time he's the one who's older, wiser. This time he _can_ protect Regis. 

This time, he'll protect them all.

**Author's Note:**

> "What if Cor actually was Immortal?"
> 
> Be patient, all will be explained. :)


End file.
